Genesis 8:1-4

One of the arguments used against the flood is that there isn’t enough water in the world to do what the Bible says was done. That the water couldn’t have arisen to a height of 20 feet over Everest. Such a claim is based on the idea that the earth then was exactly as it is now. But as I pointed out a couple weeks ago: Psalms indicates that the mountains weren’t raised up to their present height until after the flood. There’s also another argument in our favor … but I’ll get to that in a moment.

It rained for forty days and forty nights. The fountains of the deep broke up … what does that mean? People have speculated for millennia that maybe, before the flood, the underground aquifers were much, much larger than they are now. And we have trenches in the oceans now that are deeper than the highest mountain ranges; maybe that wasn’t always so. Maybe before the flood, the surface of the earth was much more uniform, less dramatic.

The waters are so deep that it’s not until more than a month after the waters have started going down that the ark comes to rest on Ararat. How could the waters go down unless some new places are being created for the water to go to? And who is creating those places?

And that’s the big point her. See, I have no problem with believing that the entire flood was carried out with the materials that were on hand. In fact, that makes a lot of sense to me. In the genealogies earlier in Genesis the youngest we see someone having an offspring is Enoch at the age of 65. The oldest we see someone having a child is Noah, at the age of 500. If that was typical—if everyone back there had child-bearing years that lasted for 400+ years, it is mathematically possible that the population of the earth in the days of Noah was greater than the population now!

Maybe it wasn’t that big, but even some people who believe in the flood seem to approach the story with the common believe that there were only a few thousand people living in the earth. Remember, though: these people had a mandate to multiply on the face of the earth and—as far as we know—had no concept of birth control. In addition, there weren’t as many diseases as we face now. I think, at the very least, there were probably several million people on the planet at that time.

Have you ever wondered why the flood lasted so long? Wouldn’t twenty days of flood and six months of standing water have been enough if the only goal is to kill everyone off? Water, though, has an amazing corrosive power. Maybe the flood was so long, and the reconstruction of the world was so immense, because God didn’t want to just kill off the existing humans, he wanted to completely wipe out all traces of man.

And that’s the element that I think we often leave out: God. As we debate about whether there’s enough water on, in and around this terrestrial ball; as we speculate on the height of mountains and the depth of oceans; are we maybe forgetting—or shoving to the back burner--the God who is the mover of all this? Jesus calls us to be wise as serpents and as innocent as lambs. So maybe there’s some value in reading the works of scientists who don’t believe in the Genesis flood. There’s probably also value in following our reading of those guys with reading some of the many hundreds of scientists who are Christians and who can provide us with convincing arguments as to the validity of the Bible narrative.

Knowledge alone, however, will not save us. At some point, we must trust in God, and in his Son. And, as much as it may gall our modern, “scientific” mind, we may have to say, “I don’t know how all this worked, but I trust God and I believe he’s telling the truth.”

Genesis 8:5-12

One of the amazing things about the Bible is God’s use of foreshadowing. There are themes that run all the way through the book … and it makes sense that they would because the book was driven by a single source!

Think about all that has happened up to this point. God created mankind to be a companion to God. But man blew it. Rather than destroying man and starting over, God puts in place the means by which man can become what he was meant to be. Remember? On the very day man is thrown out of the garden, a messiah was promised.

And now, here we are again, with man having alienated himself from God. Again, God could have destroyed all mankind, but he didn’t. He saved man through this fellow Noah and his family. See, God is about saving people! What’s interesting in these 8 verses—which at first can just seem to be a “cute” little story about birds—is that God foreshadows some things he would do later. Much later (from our perspective).

Notice that Noah sends out an unclean bird, first. Maybe it was just for the simple reason that the raven can fly long distances and feed itself on the floating carcasses it would find. Or, maybe it was a symbol of releasing man’s own uncleanness.

But then Noah sends out a dove. Why a dove? Are they special? In all four gospels (Matthew 3:16; Mark 1:10; Luke 3:22; John 1:32) the spirit of God that comes upon Jesus after his immersion appears as a dove. Doves were a “clean” bird and suitable for eating (because they didn’t eat other birds or animals). Doves, in many cultures, have been symbols of purity.

I want to compare and contrast what happens with the dove and the raven, and look at what that says about our Christian walk now.

The raven, as I mentioned, could find something to eat wherever it went. Lots of dead meat around. The dove, though, is limited. At the beginning, it must come back to Noah because it won’t (and can’t) eat foul meats.

Compare that with the work of the Holy Spirit. As unsaved people, we’ll take in whatever is provided. Foul movies, rancid talk, etc. But the Holy Spirit is very particular. When he indwells us, he is—and makes us—very particular about what is ingested.

Genesis 8:13-22

Finally, notice that Noah’s first act upon getting out of the ark is to worship. Notice, especially, that he worships God. “Well, of course he would,” you say. Look at man, though. Modern man would have spent the first couple years turning the ark into a shrine and, probably, worshiping the ark. Noah, as far as we can tell, leaves the ark completely behind and worships God!

And now, they have a mandate: fill the earth. Isn’t that the same mandate we have: fill the earth with the grace we have been given? The dove says to Noah what the HS says to us: go out into the world now. Spread the good news. Share salvation!

Acts 1:8
But when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me in Jerusalem, in all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. (ESV)

What do I DO with this?

Remember Noah’s great epitaph: Noah did everything God commanded of him. Noah didn’t act early and he didn’t wait too long. He did what God wanted him to do when God wanted it done!

What is God calling you to do? Do it.